What Is ENC Noise Cancellation? ENC vs ANC Explained
ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) cleans up your voice on calls: it filters background noise out of what the microphone picks up, so the person you are talking to hears you, not the street. ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) does the opposite job: it cancels noise for your own ears, and is found in headphones and earbuds, not speakers. The Mookiz D70 wearable speaker uses an ENC microphone for clearer hands-free calls.
ENC vs ANC at a glance
| ENC | ANC | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Environmental Noise Cancellation | Active Noise Cancellation |
| Who benefits | The person on the other end of the call | You, the listener |
| Works on | The microphone signal | The sound reaching your ears |
| How | Separates your voice from background noise and suppresses the noise | Plays an inverted “anti-noise” signal to cancel incoming noise |
| Where you find it | Speakerphones, headsets, wearable speakers, earbuds (for calls) | Closed headphones and earbuds |
| Needs a sealed fit | No | Yes, to work well |
Why speakers use ENC, not ANC
ANC only works when the anti-noise is played right at your ear, inside a sealed ear cup or ear tip. A speaker plays into the open room, so it cannot cancel noise for you. What a speaker with a microphone can do is make your voice clearer for others, which is what ENC is for.
Echo reduction is something else again
Desk speakers with a mic face a different problem: the microphone hears the speaker’s own sound and sends it back to the caller as echo. Echo reduction (also called acoustic echo cancellation) removes that. The Mookiz U60 desk speaker uses an omni-directional mic with echo reduction, so you can take calls on your computer without a headset.
Which Mookiz speaker has what
| D70 | U60 | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Wearable clip-on Bluetooth speaker | USB desk speaker |
| Microphone | Omni-directional, ENC noise cancelling | Omni-directional, echo reduction |
| Best for | Hands-free calls on the move, in noisy places | Calls, Zoom / Teams and AI voice input at your desk |
| Weight | 60 g | 102 g |
FAQ
- Does ENC make music sound quieter or different?
- No. ENC works on the microphone signal during calls; it does not change the music you hear.
- Is ENC the same as “noise-cancelling” on headphones?
- No. Headphones marketed as noise-cancelling usually mean ANC, which cancels noise for the wearer. ENC cancels noise for the caller.
- Does the D55 have ENC?
- The D55 is a stereo speaker pair for music; its specifications do not list a microphone. For calls, choose the D70 or U60.